There are stables up the road from Wearne House (Bowdens Riding School – Facebook page here), which is where I had my very first horse riding lesson. It was a small stable, with cats that slept in the hay, little ponies in little stalls and a ridiculous German Shepard that greeted every new person with growls and barks. It had a pretty gorgeous view over the village, too.

I have to say, I enjoyed myself. Horses are quite big, which seems like an obvious thing to say, except that I never realised quite how big they were till I was standing next to one concerned that he might stand on my foot. Or again, when I was seated upon him and was concerned with falling off.

Also, riding requires more co-ordination than I have. We got into trotting, and for serious; how are you meant to up-down AND kick on at the same time?! Every time I wanted to kick on (aka, go faster) while I was trying up-down (which is to lift your body up and down with all your weight on your knees so that it matches the horses gait) I sat down, so I could kick. Every time I sat down the horse took that as the signal to walk. It was a bit ridiculous, and I couldn’t figure it out. Apparently that’s okay, though. Apparently it takes more than one lesson to get it down

After half an hour of ‘heels down’ and ‘squeeze with your knees!’ around an arena, we went on a hack. Which is basically a short walk down the country road. It was quite fun, and pretty novel to be on the back of a horse on a road I’ve walked the dogs down.

To be honest, I didn’t get it during that first lesson. I didn’t get the up-down, I didn’t get the kicking-on, or the heels-down or the squeeze-your-knees or any of the rest of it. It was more a hang-on-and-hope-you-don’t-fall-off kinda day. But that’s okay, I didn’t think I was going to get it on my first 45 minute kids lesson.

Still, I had a great time. I’ll go again, when I’m next out that way. I’m sure I’ll figure out how to ride eventually

We’d set the course up in what we call the Tennis Court. It’s the flat field next to the garden, one forward from the one filled with cows. It was pleasant enough, we set the course up a bit willy nilly. We were all drinking G+T’s, and none of us had ever played before. The instructions weren’t helpful, so played the best we could, making it up as required.

It was awfully satisfying, taking the mallet and banging things into the ground. The game was even more fun, figuring out how hard to whack the ball with the mallet, hoping that it wouldn’t hit a bump and veer off course. It was even more satisfying hitting someone else’s ball so that they’d be on the wrong side of the hoop. We didn’t quite figure out roquet, but there was a lot of laughing and hilarity as we moved around the course, dodging the dogs as they chased after balls in an endless game of fetch.

It was a brilliant and fun way to pass the early evening, and we were all quite cheerful despite the slight drizzle. Croquet is more fun than I thought it would be (though I won’t lie, I did for a moment or two I did wish we were playing with neon coloured flamingos and little running hedgehogs…) and I can definitely see many more games (with G+T’s in hand) as the summer winds down.